Much can be known about the coming forth of the english text of the book of mormon through a careful study of statements made by joseph smith, his scribes, and others closely associated with the translation of the book of mormon. The subject of hebrew numerology in the book of mormon has been identified as a promising field of study still open to fruitful exploration. According to most adherents of the latter day saint movement, the book of mormon is a 19thcentury translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the american continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as reformed egyptian. The hebrew translation has a word that is equivalent to young woman. Joseph smith began his role as a prophet with minimal traditional education. The following video demonstrates that the book of mormon s redundancies are actually sophisticated literary features which, in many cases, are similar or identical to literary techniques used by ancient hebrew authors. A few years later it was withdrew from public distribution and the. Strangs the book of the law of the lord reads like the book of mormon and even features lengthy chiastic structure, a poetic form apologists tout as evidence of the book of mormon s alleged hebrew origins. Miller did it by hand in beautiful torah script, with notes in rashi script.
The hebrew background of the book of mormon book of. Parallels can be found in the old and new testaments, especially in the hebrew translation of the old testament. The second impetus for my study came from an assignment given me to serve on the book of mormon hebrew translation. Book of mormon language the encyclopedia of mormonism. Again, it is the rate of translation, approximately 6. Why did you decide to translate the book of mormon into hebrew. Many other passages in the book of mormon take on richer meaning if the passages are read as translations of hebrew. A number of details from the book of mormon text appear to support a view of the book as a rather literal translation from an ancient document. The book of hebrews and the joseph smith translation. Hebrew footnotes in the book of mormon i was reading an article by jeffrey chadwick, where he discusses possible names and locations of the places lehis family traveled. Jeremy began the discussion below by responding to the claim that the book of mormon showed evidence of hebrew names and phrases.
Generally, the hebraism is something that does not suit the translation language but is perfectly normal in biblical hebrew. One argues the book of mormon would never have answered in hebrew. The young man, however, had very little formal education and was incapable of writing a book on his own, let alone translating an ancient book written from an unknown language, known in the book of mormon as reformed egyptian. However, all but one of them are of very poor quality. In many places the words that have been used and the ways in which the words have been put together are more typical of hebrew than of english. The book of mormon has the structure of a translation from the hebrew language. Literal translations of hebrew idioms are prevalent in the book of mormon. However, members of the reorganized church of jesus christ of latterday saints now known as the community of christ later in the decade produced a full translation of.
He conferred with his counselors and the 12, then instructed translation services to work with the branch to get it done. However, members of the reorganized church of jesus christ of latterday saints now known as the community of christ later in the decade produced a full translation of the book of mormon text in hebrew. No further mention of the book of mormon is given in the novel. Among strangs followers were prominent members of josephs family as well as martin harris and david whitmer, two witnesses of the. Mason allred and mark ashurstmcgee discuss the various historical accounts of the book of mormon translation process, including accounts of joseph smith using a seer stone to translate the. In 2007, a new updated triple combination with the book of mormon, doctrine and covenants and pearl of great price, along with additional study aids, like footnotes throughout, maps, a topical guide and pictures. He describes the yearning for afrikaansspeakers for a translation of the book of mormon. It may be surprising, therefore, to learn that the small plates of nephi 1 nephi through words of mormon almost certainly came last in the translation process, after the completion of the large plates of nephi mosiah through. Hebrew translations of the bom by common consent, a.
The book of mormon came forth under miraculous circumstancesand has been a topic of scholarly debate ever since. Joseph smith and his scribes wrote of two instruments used in translating the book of mormon. The best translation is that done privately by zvi hirsch herman miller in 1922. When it came time to translate the book of mormon, he did the translation, but friends and his wife served as his scribe, because he lacked the skills needed to write the translations well. There are many hebrew literary forms found in the book of mormon.
The book of mormon in hebrew was published by the latter day saints in 1981. Download pdf here is the web site and more on the topic here at common consent. Literal translations of hebrew idioms are prevalent in the book of mormon, as are literal renditions of compound hebrew prepositions. Seer stones and the translation of the book of mormon. Joseph smith, the first prophet of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, the restoration of christs ancient church was led to the gold plates by a heavenly messenger named moroni. Is the writing in the book of mormon characteristic of the hebrew. Does the lds church already have a hebrew translation of the book of mormon. Why did joseph smith translate the book of mormon into jacobean english, not in use in 1830. So a few years ago my wife was studying the hebrew language and i thought what a cool present it would be for her to get her a book of mormon in hebrew cause mormons love that. Isaiah variants in the book of mormon religious studies. According to hugh nibley, the father of contemporary mormon scriptural and theological scholarship, the book of mormon can and should be tested. Since mormons believe that the book was originally written in reformed egyptian characters by people who also knew hebrew leading most lds scholars to claim that it was written in either egyptian or in hebrew using an egyptian script. Hebrew words reflected in the book of mormon book of mormon.
As of march 2015, the lds church continues to publish at least portions of the book of mormon in 110 languages. It was distributed free of charge around the world, especially in israel and new york city. I havent seen this ever talked about or posted here so wanted to add some more reasons why the church is a business for you. I came across an interesting site for those who love all things jewish like i do. Jeremy jacobs comments will be listed in green, the mormon apologists comments will be listed in purple, and mine will be in black. Fwiw, sidney sperrys book of mormon compendium has a bit of information on the miller translation, including a letter from j. April 06, 1829 to june 16, 1829 translation of the book of mormon at this point we move to a daily analysis of the translation of the book of mormon. Book of mormon translation response to an essay on the mechanical process in which the book of mormon was translated was put in the topical guide of the website on 1230.
Why is the book of mormon written in king james english. This is a private site which is not endorsed by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. Thanks mostly to the bible, hebrew names or variants thereof are known through much of the world. The book of mormon in hebrew a labor of love jewish. It is often difficult for those who are not familiar with the jewish culture, traditions and mannerisms to understand or appreciate the complexities and subtleties of this amazing witness of christ.
Most readers of the book of mormon naturally assume that joseph smith translated its books beginning in 1 nephi 1. In many places the words that have been used and the. Hebrew translations of the bom by common consent, a mormon. There have been a handful of hebrew translations of the english book of mormon. Book of mormon translator converted the mormon urban. Some critics have disparaged the book of mormon s language for being too repetitive. The translation of the book of mormon into afrikaans. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. A hebraism is a reflection of a hebrew idiom or word in a translation language. Is the writing in the book of mormon characteristic of the.
A few years later it was withdrew from public distribution and the remaining copies were kept by the lds archives. Theres a lot of interesting insights, but i wanted mention something he says in footnote 22. To my way of thinking, it makes more sense to examine substantive differences between the texts of the king james and book of mormon versions of isaiah. The language of the book of mormon exhibits features typical of a translation from an ancient near eastern text as well as the stamp of nineteenthcentury english and. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. A scanned pdf of the arabic book of mormon can be found here, and a physical copy can be purchased from store. In this wordplay, words around a hebrew name echo its meaning or one of the elements from which it is formed. Book of mormon hebrew translation selections manuscript.
To this day, the lds church does not produce a hebrew book of mormon. When i heard that there was a rocket scientist in alabama who is working on a hebrew translation of the book of mormon, i knew that i had to. Hebrew is one of the few languages to have been revived from extinction or at least morbundity. Here, then, are some examples of book of mormon words whose range of meaning is such that it suggests a hebrew, rather than an english, original. Chinese translation of the book of mormon deseret news.
The joseph smith translation jst is the king james version of the bible with joseph smiths revisionsmostly in the form of additions, though with some other kinds of changes. Smith supposedly produced these revisions under divine inspiration. The gold plates and the translation of the book of mormon the gold plates and the translation of the book of mormon according to joseph smiths later accounts, three years after he experienced his first vision of deity, an angel appeared to him in 1823 and told him of an ancient record written on gold plates. The gold plates and the translation of the book of mormon. The english translation of the book of mormon shows many characteristics of the hebrew language. Is there a hebrew translation of the book of mormon, and if so, does the pattern of language sit better in hebrew than its english manifestation. Plays on hebrew words translating the book of mormon. A biblical scholar looks at the book of mormon mormons. This claim, as well as all claims to historical authenticity of the book of mormon, are rejected by nonlatter day saint historians and scientists. Selections from the book of mormon in simplified characters were released in 1983 and the full book in 2001 and was the 62nd language. Here is the first part of a transalation of the book of mormon in hebrew. Some had waited all of their lifetimes to read the book of mormon in afrikaans.
When i see the word translate, it means to me that a scribe read a manuscript written in one language e. New words the book of mormon introduces a number of new words to the english language. Is there a hebrew translation of the book of mormon, and. Christ is the english transliteration of the greek word. The hebrew background of the book of mormon book of mormon. If hebrew was indeed the language of the book of mormon, the hebrew word here translated as counsel may have been sod, which can also mean secret.
Is there a hebrew translation of the book of mormon, and if so, does. In his spare time, he translates the book of mormon into hebrew. There are, in fact, at least 922 chiasma in the book of mormon. Did you know that there isnt a hebrew translation of the. Lesson learned from translating the book of mormon into hebrew. The book of mormon in hebrew a labor of love jewish journal. Classical hebrew writers loved wordplay, as is evidenced by the many plays on words in the bible. The book of mormon is a hebrew book written in the manner of the jews. For instance, over 50% of the book is couched in chiastic structures.
Meaning is found in many ways, and one way is in the symbolism of numbers. Sjodahl, the book of mormon plates, improvement era april 1923, reprinted here, drew 14 pages of english bom text translated into hebrew. Unless otherwise indicated, the translation was financed and the resulting text published by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church. A scanned pdf of the arabic book of mormon can be found here, and a physical copy can be purchased from storea list of other lds materials in arabic can be found on the full book of mormon is currently available in 88 languages, including. As ive mentioned, they appointed david galbraith as project manager and john tvedtnes both in the branch presidency as the one to approve the final reading, but they wanted an israeli to do the. For the book of mormon, first published in 1830, the translation language is english. Hebrew midrash and the book of mormon its about time. Some of the names found in english bibles also show up in the book of mormon, some hebrew names found in the book of mormon. This may lead readers to wonder if it has any literary merit at all. The mormon church distributes free copies of the king james version of the bible and the book of mormon. The article is fairly brief and only superficially addresses the problem. These tables show all the versions of the book of mormon that have been translated.
661 9 520 38 1054 872 1189 1162 322 121 220 846 147 546 737 964 143 1476 177 426 1502 480 1358 727 300 723 931 1378 1028 886 163 790 1080 1034 1260 1253 125 65 385 569 1331 780 1057 825 1452 385 283